Breaking Records- Bad Wolf EP
by StormWolf10
Summary: AU. The Doctor is determined to get out of Rassilon Records and set up his own record label, but he can't do it with just him and his drummer Jack. What he needs is another vocalist, someone who is willing to stick by him while he creates his dream of making it in the music business
1. Track 1

**A/N: Had this idea for ages, and wanted to test it out. Never published an AU before, so hope you like it! Also, trying very hard not to rip off the wonderful Gallifrey Records series on Teaspoon and an Open Mind…**

"Jack, I don't want to go to a bar! Besides, we'll never hear the end of it from the record label if this ends up in the papers." The Doctor complained as he was ferried into the bar.

Jack Harkness merely smirked at his friend and made his way to the bar.

"Two bottled lagers please," he told the barman with a grin as he seated himself on a barstool.

The Doctor reluctantly slid onto the neighbouring barstool as the barman placed two bottles of lager on the bar and Jack handed over the money. The Doctor tugged at the hood of his grey jumper, tugging it over his wild brown hair.

"Come on, Theta," Jack laughed at his friend "I don't think anyone will be recognising you tonight. Didn't you see the poster outside? It's karaoke night. Therefore, this place is full of students, and I doubt they'll be interested in some thirty-something guy sat at the bar!"

"I'm thirty!" the Doctor muttered under his breath, taking a sip of his lager.

"Not the point!" Jack replied, swigging his beer.

"Look," the Doctor told his friend, turning to glare at him "just don't get in any fights. I don't need the press publicising any pub brawls,"

"You think I'd do that, Theta?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"I know you too bloody well. Of course I do," the Doctor muttered.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor sighed as a group of teenagers crowded into the bar, laughing and yelling. A gangly teenager was just walking away from the karaoke machine, causing one of the teenage girls who'd just entered to squeal.

"Rose! You should totally go do the karaoke!"

"No, Shareen," a blonde teenager- evidently Rose- replied, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, go on! You've got a great voice!" Another girl piped up.

"Just leave it, Keisha," Rose told her friends as they made their way over to the bar.

Jack and the Doctor watched as the group of teenagers ordered their drinks and payed before disappearing across the room. The two men then returned to their drinks.

**~StormWolf10~**

Half an hour later, the karaoke machine started up again, causing the teenagers and students to cheer while the Doctor and Jack groaned.

"Remind me why you chose a bar, again, Jack?" the Doctor asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, maybe a pub would've been better," Jack conceded as he ordered another round.

The music began, and the Doctor sighed as he recognised the tune. It was the fourth time that night that some spotty, greasy-haired youth had chosen to sing 'Animal', and he was quite frankly getting sick of the song.

"Come on," he told Jack, grabbing the new bottle of lager the barman had placed in front of him "let's finish these and get out of here."

Jack nodded, and the two men began downing their drinks quickly. By now, the teenager was finishing the song and out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor saw another teenager step up. Standing up, he and Jack began to make their way across the crowded bar. And then the Doctor stopped dead as the teenager began to sing. He glanced over at the karaoke machine and spotted the girl from earlier- Rose, if he remembered correctly- beginning to sing 'Edge of Glory'.

"Huh," Jack said "I can see why her friends wanted her to sing. She's quite good."

"Yeah," the Doctor murmured in agreement, his gaze fixed on the teenager.

He didn't notice Jack's smirk, as he was far too distracted by Rose. Soon, though, Jack recognised the look on his friend's face that meant he was thinking hard about something.

"What you thinking about, Theta?" Jack asked his friend, only just being heard over the noise of the bar.

"I'm thinking that we need to speak to that girl…" the Doctor replied to his friend.

"What? Why?" Jack asked, frowning.

"Come on! We've wanted to leave Rassilon Records for ages! Ever since Koschei started getting far too big-headed and the guys at the record label became too controlling…"

"Well yeah, but what does the girl have to do with it?" Jack asked, brow furrowed.

"She could be our ticket to setting up our own label." The Doctor answered quickly, finally turning to his friend "You said so yourself; I don't work so well as a solo act, even with you on drums. If we could talk to her, get her to sign up, even for a few months to see how it goes… We could finally get out of Rassilon Records, Jack! We could make it big!"

Jack sighed, watching his friend carefully.

"Theta," Jack told his friend, tugging him towards the door to get out of the noise and allow them to have a proper conversation "you said that about all the others, too."

"I know, but I have a good feeling about that girl!" the Doctor replied quickly "I mean, listen to her! Her vocals will work really well with mine!"

"That's what you said about Grace, and Sarah Jane, and Tegan and Ace, Theta! And look how they turned out! They left, they weren't interested in your mad-cap ideas to pull away and start a record label!" Jack shouted.

The Doctor set his jaw, glaring at his friend before turning and heading back into the bar. Jack sighed, and debated whether to go after his friend, before changing his mind. He'd head back to the hotel. The Doctor would see sense soon, and come back.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor sat patiently at the bar, watching Rose with her friends, trying to search out the opportune moment to speak to her without seeming pervy. Eventually, he got his chance when Rose came over to order more drinks. She didn't seem to notice him at first, not until the Doctor cleared his throat. She smiled uncertainly at him before returning to staring listlessly behind the bar as the barman prepared her drinks.

"Some nice, um, singing earlier," the Doctor told her, smiling awkwardly.

"Thanks," Rose replied awkwardly, glancing over at him again.

And then she did a double-take.

"Aren't you…?" she began uncertainly, brow furrowing.

The Doctor watched as she mentally shook herself.

"No, sorry, probably not," Rose continued, brushing it off.

"Oh, that depends on who you think I am," the Doctor replied with a grin.

"Are you…The Doctor?" Rose asked.

The Doctor could tell that she was expecting a resounding 'no' from him, but he merely grinned and waved. He watched in amusement as her brown eyes widened.

"It really is you!" she murmured, looking him up and down.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied "although I wasn't expecting to be recognised in a bar full of students. I'm not exactly famous."

"You should be," Rose blurted before she could stop herself.

"Thanks," he replied with a smile as the barman finally finished preparing her drinks.

He saw that Rose glanced over at her friends, unsure whether she wanted to rejoin her friends or talk more to him.

"You're welcome to join me, if you'd like," the Doctor offered quietly "if your friends don't mind."

Rose grinned and nodded.

"I'll just take their drinks over and I'll be back." She replied with a grin.


	2. Track 2

**A/N: Chapter Two :) Just to let you know, I have a few stories planned out. Some will be 4/5 chapters and some will be 8/10 chapters.**

"So," Rose asked, taking a sudden interest in her glass of vodka and coke "why do you sing under the name of 'The Doctor'?"

"We-ell," the Doctor replied, wrinkling his nose slightly as he thought "I like helping people. And Doctors help people…Other than that, I'm not really sure,"

"What's your real name?" Rose asked, glancing up at him before her gaze skittered back to her drink.

"My real name is Theta Sigma. That's not my birth name, of course." The Doctor explained "My birth name was John Smith, and I hated it all through school, because it seemed so…._average_. I mean, everyone always says it's the most common name, but I've admittedly not met any other John Smiths _because_ people believe it to be so common. However, my teachers always had an annoying habit of asking questions in class and using names in the example. And, lo and behold, it was always 'If John Smith had twelve apples…' or, 'John Smith went swimming…' and it used to drive me up the wall. So, as soon as I was sixteen, I changed it. I was going through a bit of a rebellious streak, of course. Dyed my hair ginger, started playing electric guitar, got a tattoo…"

"Changed your name to random Greek numbers?" Rose suggested with a grin.

The Doctor let out a laugh at that, nodding.

"Exactly!" the Doctor crowed, loudly, earning them stares from several people waiting to be served at the bar.

Once the laughter had died down a bit, the Doctor spoke again.

"So, you know a lot about me, now tell me about yourself," he told Rose gently.

He made sure to make it sound like an invite; he didn't want to push the girl, not if he was going to seal the deal. Rose sobered instantly, and looked at him uncertainly for a few moments.

"Umm, my full name's Rose Marion Tyler, I grew up on the Powell Estate. Still live there, with my Mum. I'm nineteen. Work in a shop. Nothing very interesting." Rose dismissed quickly.

"Oh, I'm sure there are lots of interesting things about you!" the Doctor replied with a slight smile "Got any hobbies?"

Rose shook her head.

"Not really. Well, I sometimes draw in my spare time, and I suppose I sing a bit, but I'm not particularly good at either of them." Rose replied.

"Nonsense! You were brilliant earlier!" the Doctor answered, taking a deep breath "And that was actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

Rose's head shot up from where she'd been gazing at her drink.

"I'm sorry?" Rose asked, beginning to frown.

The Doctor's eyes went wide as he realised that Rose was beginning to get suspicious.

"It's…It's nothing bad, of course," he hastened to add "but you know my record label, Rassilon Records?"

Rose nodded, still sceptical.

"Well, I want to leave them and set up my own record label, but before I do that, I need…I need another vocalist. As Jack would say, I need someone to keep me in line, say yes or no to the songs, tell me when I'm going too far. I tend to not do as well on the albums I do on my own, because sometimes I'll write a song and be so proud of it that I don't realise that it's actually not that good. I need someone to tell me when I'm writing crap, basically," the Doctor explained, blushing slightly.

"An'…An' you want me?" Rose asked, brow furrowed in disbelief.

"If you want, of course." The Doctor replied quickly "I mean, you're a great singer, and I'd love to work with you, but I'm aware of the fact that I have just approached you in a bar, and I don't know what you want to do with your life, or where you work or anything, but…But would you consider it?"

Rose thought for a few moments, before looking at her mobile.

"I'd…I'd better get going," Rose told him, slipping of the barstool "but I'll think about it. Will need to speak to my Mum about it…"

"Right! Yes, of course!" the Doctor realised, scrabbling for his wallet and plucking out a white business card "That's my mobile number and the address of the recording studio. Just call, or swing by, or whatever,"

Rose nodded, smiling slightly as she took the card.

"I'll, uh, I'll let you know," Rose told him quietly.

And then she slipped out of the bar.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Finally come back, then?" Jack asked as the Doctor wandered into their hotel room.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and flopped down onto his bed. Thanks to Rassilon Records spending most of their money on Koschei (or, as he liked to be known, the Master, although he conveniently only began singing under that name when the Doctor had begun singing under 'Doctor'), the Doctor and Jack had had to share a hotel room. Not that the pair minded, of course. They'd known each other for years, ever since Jack had moved over with his family from America.

"How did it go? Scare the teenager off?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"If you must know, we had a chat, I bought her a drink and gave her my business card." The Doctor answered calmly.

"Woah, Theta!" Jack exclaimed in mock shock "Are you telling me that that girl was actually old enough to drink?"

The Doctor glared over at his friend, who merely grinned back cheekily.

"Yes, I get it, Jack. She's nineteen, I'm thirty. One hell of an age gap." The Doctor groused quietly.

"I'm not sure the record label will like it," Jack pointed out, serious now "and the press will have a field day when they find out."

The Doctor sat up suddenly, wide-eyed as a grin slowly began to spread across his face.

"Not if we can get a demo tape out before they find out about Rose!" the Doctor realised, grinning at his friend "If we can record a song with her and break away from the record label before the press find out exactly who my new vocalist is, we could get away with it!"

"And when are you going to record this demo tape with her?" Jack asked.

The Doctor's face fell at that.

"She, uh, said she'd call me when she'd decided whether she wanted to do it. She said she had to discuss it with her Mum first." The Doctor admitted quietly.

"Well," Jack sighed "we might as well go to sleep then. There's no point sitting here waiting for a phone call that won't come."

"Yeah," the Doctor murmured.

Half an hour later, with Jack snoring quietly, the Doctor sighed and stared at the dark ceiling.


	3. Track 3

**A/N: Only a chapter left after this :) Read and Review XD**

It took three days before the Doctor finally received a phone call from Rose. He'd bustled Jack out of the hotel room while he took the call, and Jack had responded by pressing his ear to the door. He could hear nothing but muffled talking, and then the door was suddenly opened, causing him to tumble in. Jumping to his feet, Jack took one look at the wide grin on the Doctor's face and grinned back.

"She said yes?" Jack asked, feeling the need to clarify it.

"She said yes!" the Doctor replied with a grin.

Jack watched as the Doctor hurried back into the hotel room, grabbing his dark green hoodie and pulling it on before hurrying past Jack out of the room.

"I said we'd meet her at the café down the street to discuss everything," the Doctor told his friend hurriedly.

Jack nodded and grabbed his jacket, hurrying after his friend.

**~StormWolf10~**

If Jack had had any doubts about remembering the teenager from the bar, they were soon squashed when Rose entered the small London café. The Doctor's face lit up, and he was quickly on his feet, greeting Rose. Jack smirked, noting that his friend seemed far more taken with this teenager than some of the previous vocalists he'd brought in.

"Rose, this is my drummer, Jack Harkness," the Doctor announced, gesturing at Jack, who shook Rose's hand "Jack, this is Rose Tyler."

"Pleasure," Jack told Rose with a grin.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he sat down again.

"Stop it." The Doctor told Jack with a glare.

"I was just saying hello!" Jack complained, causing Rose to giggle.

Jack grinned at Rose, and suddenly got to his feet.

"Either of you want a drink?" Jack asked, nodding towards the counter.

The Doctor, of course, asked for tea just as Jack had expected, while Rose opted for a bottle of water. He headed off to purchase the drinks while the Doctor and Rose began discussing business. By the time Jack had returned with the drinks, the Doctor had pulled a pad of paper out, and was writing things down.

"So, once we've come up with our own record label, we can begin work on the demo tracks and songs," the Doctor explained as Rose nodded.

"One thing," Rose chipped in suddenly "I'm not gonna go into this without knowing more about you. We only met a few days ago. Before we even begin committing to this record label thing, I suggest we meet up a few times and get to know each other better."

The Doctor blinked, and Jack laughed.

"Oh, well done, Rose!" Jack laughed "This may be the first time I've ever seen him speechless!"

Rose grinned while the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Alright then, Rose Tyler," the Doctor announced "you have a deal."

**~StormWolf10~**

"Where do you live, then?" Rose asked in confusion.

"Oh, we live in Guildford, but when we're doing stuff at the recording studio, the record label insist we stay at a hotel." The Doctor explained evasively.

The three of them were wandering through Hyde Park, and it had been two days since Rose suggested they got to know each other better before going into business together. They'd spent the past two days together, and so far, things were looking good.

"Why's that?" Rose asked.

"Possibly because the Doctor's got a habit of being rather awful at time keeping." Jack answered with a smirk "We tend to stay at a hotel only a few minutes from the recording studio so there's less chance of us being late."

"I'm not that bad!" the Doctor complained.

"Whatever you say, Theta," Jack told his friend, ruffling his hair.

This earned him a glare from the Doctor. The trio descended into silence again as they continued through the park.

"Oh yeah," Rose piped up suddenly "my Mum wants you two to come to tea tonight."

Both men stopped dead and stared at the blonde teenager.

"I'm sorry?" Jack asked in shock.

"Well, my Mum's not gonna let me set up business with two men she's never met!" Rose pointed out calmly.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor and Jack weren't quite sure what to make of Rose's home. She'd lived on the council estate all her life, so was obviously relaxed there, whether she liked it or not. As she led them up to her Mum's flat, she chatted away to them, while the men nodded along and hoped she wouldn't notice their reluctance. Soon, however, they were outside Rose's flat, waiting while she unlocked the door.

"Mum, I'm home!" Rose yelled as she entered the small flat.

"Are those blokes with you?" Rose's Mum called back.

"Yeah." Rose replied.

Jack and the Doctor were stood awkwardly in the narrow hallway, unsure. Rose, however, merely grinned at them and led them through to the sitting room just as her Mum came out the kitchen.

"Mum, this is the Doctor and Jack," Rose told her Mum, gesturing at the Doctor and Jack in turn "guys, this is my Mum, Jackie Tyler."

Both men shook Jackie's hand while she watched them uncertainly.

"What kind of name is 'Doctor'?" she asked the Doctor bluntly.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Mum, it's just a stage name!" Rose reminded her Mum.

"What's your proper name then?" Jackie asked, still eying the Doctor suspiciously.

"Theta Sigma." The Doctor replied quickly, wide-eyed.

"What kind of name is that?" Jackie asked incredulously.

"I….Changed it when I was sixteen. Was going through a rebellious stage." The Doctor explained.

Jackie still looked sceptical, and Rose quickly stepped in.

"Tea?" she suggested.

**~StormWolf10~**

An hour and a half later, the Doctor, Rose, Jack and Jackie were all sat at the small table eating shepherd's pie.

"This is delicious, Jackie," Jack told the woman with a grin.

Needless to say, they'd soon found that Jackie was understandably protective of her daughter, and the men were hoping that throwing compliments at her would get them into her good books.

"Thank you, Jack," Jackie replied with a smile.

However, she soon returned her attention to the Doctor, and she stared at him suspiciously.

"Now, what exactly do you want with my daughter?"

The Doctor quickly swallowed his mouthful of food.

"Well, Rose is a fantastic singer, Mrs Tyler," the Doctor announced quickly "and I've been considering setting up my own record label for some time…"

"We don't have money, if that's what you're after." Jackie broke in quickly, glaring at him.

"No, no, nothing like that," the Doctor replied, wide-eyed "I've been saving for months- _years_- to begin the record label, and I think Rose is exactly the vocalist I've been looking for,"

Jackie's gaze flickered to her daughter, and noticed her jaw was set.

"And you really want to do this?" Jackie asked her daughter uncertainly.

Rose nodded quickly.

"Absolutely," she confirmed, flashing a grin at the Doctor and Jack.

"Well then, Doctor," Jackie announced, returning her attention to the man "when you and Rose make this demo track, I want to hear it. And I want a detailed plan of what my Rose's role will be with you."

The Doctor swallowed, and nodded. Rose leant over, grinning to whisper in his ear.

"Believe me," she murmured "that's good."


	4. Track 4

**A/N: Final chapter for Breaking Records- Bad Wolf EP :) As always, read and review!**

Rose stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, unsure what to do.

"You can sit down, you know," Jack told her with a grin "we don't charge for seats!"

Rose smiled awkwardly and sank down onto the faded, battered sofa.

"So, uh, this is where the magic happens, then?" she asked the two men.

The Doctor beamed, rocking on the balls of his converse, hands in his pockets.

"Yep!" he announced, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"You have a recording studio in your house." Rose continued, willing her brain to actually begin processing the information.

"Yeah," Jack replied, sitting beside her "this is where the Doctor writes his music, and we practice before going down to the recording studio with it. Although, we may actually end up recording here, too."

"Why's that?" Rose frowned.

"Because we could only record at that particular recording studio thanks to negotiations from Rassilon Records," the Doctor explained with a sigh "and when we leave there, they may not let us use that recording studio."

"Well, do we need them?" Rose asked, frowning "I mean, we've got the equipment here, and you wanted a completely clean break from your current record label…"

The Doctor grinned.

"Oh, Rose Tyler, you are _brilliant_!" he exclaimed.

**~StormWolf10~**

It took longer than Rose had expected for them to produce a demo track. They did, of course, have to come up with a record label first, and after some strange conversations- a lot of which took place in the small recording studio in the Doctor and Jack's house- they'd decided on Bad Wolf Records.

"I still can't believe you actually agreed to that!" Rose admitted with a giggle as the Doctor showed off the logo for their new record label.

"Well, it's better than any of Jack's suggestions!" the Doctor pointed out with a grin.

Of course, anything was better than Jack's, as a lot of his had included sexual innuendos in the titles.

"Yeah, but I only came up with Bad Wolf Records as a joke!" Rose reminded him, still giggling.

In fact, it had only come about when the Doctor had been accompanying Rose home after a particularly late session in the recording studio, and they'd seen some new graffiti on the walls, depicting a howling wolf.

"But it looks good!" the Doctor protested, gesturing at the logo again "I got an old associate to design it for me!"

"Who? Mickey Smith?" Jack asked in interest.

The Doctor nodded.

"Well, let Mickey Mouse know he did a great job," Jack replied with a grin.

**~StormWolf10~**

Just like their record label, the Doctor and Rose's first demo track was entitled 'Bad Wolf'. It was admittedly still a little rough around the edges, and the Doctor's editing software wasn't great, but it was good enough for them. Just as promised, the Doctor gave Rose a demo track to show her Mum, as well as drafting up a plan of everything Rose would be within the band and the record label. Jackie, however, was rather taken aback at the plan.

"He's said here that you'll be joint partners!" Jackie told her daughter, waving the paper under Rose's nose as she sat on the sofa "Joint partners, Rose!"

"I know, Mum," Rose told her Mum with a grin, although she was attempting to stay calm "I was there when he drafted up the plan."

"He'd better not try takin' advantage of you, though!" Jackie continued, seemingly ignoring her daughter's comment.

"He won't, Mum," Rose chipped in.

Again, Jackie seemed to ignore her.

"An' I don't exactly trust that drummer of his, either," Jackie added, pacing the room now "too charming for his own good, that one!"

"Mum, neither the Doctor nor Jack are gonna be takin' advantage of me!" Rose told her Mum seriously.

"Well good," Jackie replied sternly. Her face then split into a grin "Now, we gotta talk to that Doctor about how much you're gettin' payed!"

**~StormWolf10~**

Once the demo track had been sent out to a radio station, they knew they were in business. Almost immediately, they were getting calls from recording studios, offering their services to help the Doctor and Rose Tyler. They politely visited each recording studio before the Doctor politely turned the offer down, deeming them 'too bright', 'too dark', 'too modern', 'too hard to travel to each day'; it soon became clear that he'd much rather record in the box room at their Guildford home, behind the creaky wooden door that Jack had pelted with dark blue paint that time he'd bought a paint gun. The trio was soon working on their debut EP, having decided that an album would be too much of a stretch while they still weren't sure how big their audience was. It took weeks to record and edit everything, during which time Jackie hardly saw her daughter, and they hardly left the studio. It was tough, but the Doctor, Rose and Jack got on so well together that the time seemed to fly by. They'd gotten hold of the Doctor's 'associate' Mickey Smith again, and he'd agreed to design the CD cover. Once the cover was designed and the tracks were recorded, they were finally ready to release the CD. When the day arrived, however, they were not expecting the chaos that would ensue. Jack had 'stuff to do', so the Doctor and Rose had gone out alone to the very same café where they had first met to discuss the possibility of a record label. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until they were heading out, only to be confronted by a swarm of journalists and news cameras.

"Tell me Doctor; were you aware that yours and Miss Tyler's debut CD has already hit the UK Number 1 position?"

"I, uh, I wasn't aware of that," the Doctor admitted as microphones were shoved into his face "but that's us, breaking records!"

"Do you have any plans for more upcoming CDs?"

"Well, we've got a few song ideas that didn't make it onto the Bad Wolf EP, so there is a possibility for a future album," he replied as he and Rose began to try and get through the crowd.

"Miss Tyler, would you say that you're shocked at the response the EP has received? It has, quite literally made the pair of you a national success in a matter of hours!"

"Very shocked," Rose replied, reaching slowly for the Doctor's hand.

And then, before Rose could say any more, the Doctor's hand was in hers, and he was whispering just one word in her ear.

"Run!"


End file.
